Group: Chinese logging threatens Myanmar monkey

Yangon, Myanmar • Illegal Chinese logging and demand for monkey bones are threatening a rare monkey species in northern Myanmar, a conservation group said Tuesday.

British-based Fauna & Flora International said the main threats to the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey are deforestation caused by illegal Chinese logging and hunting of the animals for food and traditional medicine. It said it hopes that progress in peace negotiations in Kachin state — site of an insurgency — and the establishment of the Imawbum National Park there will help save the endangered creatures.

The monkey, discovered in Kachin state in 2010, is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. IUCN estimates that only 260 to 330 survive in the wild.